A three-year-old girl was killed and five others were injured after a bee swarm attack in Torit County of Eastern Equatoria State on Thursday afternoon, local officials said.
The girl child, identified as Sekina Otorik, died after she was among several other children stung multiple times by the bee swarm in Oronyo village.
Alfred Ohia, a medical officer at Oronyo Primary Healthcare Centre, told Radio Tamazuj Friday that the injured were receiving treatment at the facility.
“After the incident, these children were brought to us, but unfortunately one of them died at the health facility and the other five children are alive. The injured are now responding to treatment,” he said.
Meanwhile, Angelina Quintino, a member of the Eastern Equatoria State Legislative Assembly representing the area confirmed the incident.
“It is true that a swarm of bees stung a child of 3 years and died later on. What happened is shocking and this is the third time such an incident happened,” she said.
“I am urging the community leaders to sit down and address this issue using their traditional means so that such incidents don’t happen again,” she added.
For her part, the Director General at the State Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Forestry, Anna Itwari, said the ministry had sent a team to the scene of the incident.
“Our team is going to Oronyo and will proceed to Lafon and when they come back, I will gather more information. They are going to make an assessment,” she said.
Earlier this year, two children were killed when a swarm of bees attacked them in the same village.